As a writer and computer enthusiast, David Rocke was helping his friends program their computers and protect their documents for years before he became the resident blogger for Vanguard Archives of Chicago.

Running a small business can create a lot of headaches, especially when it comes to the technology side of it. Backing up documents and digitalizing them used to be one of the most time consuming and frustrating parts of running a business, but it does not have to be anymore.

As technology continues to advance at an exponential rate, life, especially small business life, gets easier and easier. One thing in particular that any business needs, especially small ones, is a quality scanner.

Just 10 years ago, scanners used to take up to 45 seconds to scan a single side of a page, and they would often snag and jam if inserted even slightly improperly. Scanners today however can scan a page in under 4 seconds, less depending on the model, and can even scan both sides at once, which allows for double the productivity compared to the scanners of old.

Looking for a good scanner today can be a little tricky for the not-so-computer-literate. Luckily there are some simple things to look for when seeking a means to back-up and secure your documents.

Ease of Use

The single most important quality to look for in a scanner is the ease of use. While most scanners these days can have a hundred features, and can be quite daunting, its simplest function should be easy enough for anyone at your business to use. After all, if it is too difficult to use, then it never will get used, or it will take so long to learn how to use it that only one person will have knowledge about it, and that defeats the purpose of buying a business scanner.

Features

Most scanners today have an abundance of features such as printing, faxing, color adjusting, or even an all-in-one device, but the goal is to find the right one. The right scanner for your business will be one that has all the features you need, and as few as possible of the ones it does not need. Getting a scanner with too little features will be unhelpful to your business while getting one with too many will have a much higher and unnecessary cost.

Warranty

In addition to a decent manufacturer’s warranty, make sure that whatever scanner you decide on for your business has a proven history of help and support. Making sure you have access to the necessary technical support to make your new scanner work properly is often a point neglected by those looking at buying any piece of technology. Learning a new system can be challenging, especially if it has to be done alone and without the assistance of the company who made it.

Making sure a small business’s documents are safely digitalized and stored is one of the biggest and important tasks in today’s age of new and small businesses. Making sure the acquisition of a good scanner is the key to completing that task.